Club for Growth targets Doug Collins with multimillion-dollar ad campaign

The conservative Club for Growth plans on targeting Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign after he announced a challenge to Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.).

The group is the first outside organization to wage an ad campaign against Collins, who sparked GOP ire over his challenge against Loeffler, raising fears that a split in the Republican vote could pave the way for a Democrat to flip the seat.

Club for Growth plans to spend $3 million on television ads starting next week. The videos will run for five weeks, according to details of the plan that were first reported by Politico and confirmed by The Hill.

“Over the next month, Club for Growth will educate Georgia voters about Doug Collins’ record on economic issues and demand that he change his ways,” David McIntosh, the Club’s president, said in a statement.

While groups like Club for Growth and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have come out in force to support Loeffler, Collins is known to be a close ally of President Trump.

The Republican House member boosted his profile with staunch defenses of the president from his perch as the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee during the panel’s impeachment investigation.

To combat Collins’s challenge, Loeffler has already set up a $2.6 million ad buy introducing herself to voters in Georgia and vowed to spend up to $20 million of her own money to buoy her campaign.

Collins dismissed concerns that his campaign could serve as a spoiler, saying he will continue to fight for the president. 

“I think we fought for the president, we fought for our state and we fought for this country,” Collins said on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday morning. “And we’re going to continue to do that. I look forward to a good exchange of ideas and look forward to this election.”